Music, entertainment and a lighthearted atmosphere will be the setting for tackling something much darker – multiple sclerosis.

Powerhouse Pub is hosting a country music night to support the fight against MS at 9 p.m., Thursday, April 4.

The cover charge is $5 and a percentage will go to the MS Society.

According to Don Langford, who is on the board of the local committee of the MS Walk, the pub is helping bring awareness to the April 27 Folsom MS Walk by hosting a “kick-off” party.

Spiders & Cider, a Folsom band, is scheduled to perform.

“This event at Powerhouse Pub is to really revitalize the MS Walk and let people know we are going to be down in the historic district,” Langford said.

The MS Walk in Folsom is moving from its previous location to Folsom’s historic Sutter Street.

For walkers, registration is at 8 a.m., with the walk starting at 9 a.m.

“Around noon is the walk festival wrap-up and party in the amphitheater,” Langford said.

The shorter of the two walks is down Sutter Street and across the Truss Bridge and back for one mile. The longer of the two, a 5k, is across the Truss Bridge and onto the bike paths.

“We’ll probably have approximately 1,000 walkers, because of our new location,” Langford said. “We feel this will be a good opportunity to see an increase in attendance this year.”

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS affects 84,000 people in northern California and more than 2.1 million worldwide. The organization funds research, tries to drive “change through advocacy” and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move forward with their lives, according to the group.

“The Folsom MS Walk is a time to spread awareness about this unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system which interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and the body,” Langford said.

Germane Smith, general manager, said the bar’s involvement is a natural fit.

“It’s another avenue for the bar to help out the community,” she said. “It’s another opportunity to help out those who are less fortunate.”